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March 24, 2006

Sox Claim Hee Seop Choi

Love it. The Dodgers will have Nomar at first base, so I guess they felt they could throw Choi away for nothing. Bizarre -- since he's still got one minor league option -- but he's ours now.

Another excellent pick-up for little money ($725,000) as the front office just keeps hitting bullseye after bullseye this winter.

Choi put up nice numbers -- .388/.495 in 95 games with Florida -- in 2004 before being traded to Los Angeles. He's good insurance at first base if Snow fizzles or if Yook has to move back to third because Lowell can't get it going. Plus the Sox can stash him away in Pawtucket until the time is right, unless they decide to cut Snow.

Plus: Who does PECOTA list as Choi's most comparable player for this season? ... David Ortiz, 2003. (4th best comp? Travis Hafner, 2004) Love it.

8 comments:

Love it is right. Ok, I want to hear the explanations of all the fair weather depressives who said the Sox were doomed after losing Damon. What I see is a much better starting rotation, Schilling throwing bullets, a deeper and younger bullpen, with Foulke looking like the 2004 model, vastly improved defense in the infield, a solid replacement for Damon, and more power and depth on the bench; upgrades at second and first, and help available if question marks like Lowell don't pan out. Why would anyone be pessimistic about this squad? Considering all the turmoil and confusion around the GM, Manny,and The Idiot, it's flat out astounding that the Sox are in such a good position now.

They were all completely influenced by the media. For people to think the Boston Red Sox would have just not even attempted to field a competitive team was ridiculous. The media wanted make it this "oh no" situtation, to sell more papers. I personally never worried one bit, and have my blog to prove it. However, ironically, I feel the last few moves have been kind of overkill, as I thought we were fine with Bronson being there to come in and maybe fill in for an injured starter, or still contribute as a long reliever. And these guys from the NL don't look as good to me as they seem to to everyone else. But I obviously hope for the best for Choi and Pena. Just don't see them as being gods, especially with their .240 and .250 averages.

All the if's for this year could conspire to make this season a little disappointing -- not that they will, but they could. But the fact that so many of these moves are so future oriented is encouraging in itself, no matter how Wells/Lowell/Foulke do.

Especially if pitchers go down, RS, and Yankee pitchers are going down already. Wright and Pavano are already hurting. Mussina has looked old and rotten in the spring games. Wang is banged up. Small is on the disabled list, and as soon as Satan collects on the bargain Small made last season, he'll vanish in a puff of sulphur. And... dare I hope?...Rivera's either gotta show that he's human or suffer metal fatigue like all robots one of these years. If this is the year, look out Devil Rays!

I kind of like Kruk's off-beat candor, but if he takes your bet, Redsock, please get me some of the action. He can't be serious! A repeat of last year for Johnson would make the Yankees ecstatic; a more likely scenario is a declining in and out year with lots of down time, and something like a 13-12 record. I'm curious: how many would trade Schilling for Johnson today, straight up, remembering that the Yankees have to pay him for two more years? Not me. In fact, I wouldn't trade any Sox starter for him, including Clement. Okay, maybe Wells.